Thesis format guidelines

Paragraph Indentions: 0.75" Order of Material: Title Page, Signature Page, Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures, Abstract, the Text of the Thesis, List o

Vietnam National University - Hochiminh City International University

School of Business

UNDERGRADUATE THESIS FORMAT

GUIDELINES

I – GENERAL DOCUMENT GUIDELINES

Paper: The thesis must be printed on good quality white paper on one side of the paper

Margins: Left Margin - 1 ½ inches Top Margin - 1 ½ inches

Right Margin - 1 inch Bottom Margin - 1 ½ inches

Font Size and Type: 12 – point Times New Roman font

Line Spacing: Documents should be 1.5 line spacing throughout, with the exception of

the table of contents, bibliography, and quotations of more than four lines or two or more sentences The thesis must be printed on one side of the paper

Paragraph Indentions: 0.75"

Order of Material: Title Page, Signature Page, Acknowledgments, Table of Contents,

List of Tables, List of Figures, Abstract, the Text of the Thesis, List of References,

Appendix (See attached sample pages.)

Numbering of Pages: Page numbers must be centered two lines below the bottom margin There is no heading to the left or right of the page number The placement of

page numbers must be consistent throughout the thesis Pages should be numbered

sequentially throughout the chapter Preliminary pages are numbered as follows:

• The title page is counted as page i (assumed, do not print number)

• The signature page is counted as page ii (assumed, do not print number)

• The acknowledgment page is counted as page iii (assumed do not print number)

• The remaining preliminary pages are numbered with lower case Roman numerals (iv, v, vi, etc)

• The main body of the text and the reference section are consecutively numbered with Arabic numerals beginning page “1” and continuing throughout, including text, illustrative materials, list of references, and appendices

Title page: (see attached sample)

1 Name of the International University and the School: Upper case, Times New Roman 12 – point font, Centered

2 Logo of International University

3 Title of Thesis: Upper case, Bold, Times New Roman 20 – point font, Centered

4 Statement of presentation in the form: “In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements of the Degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS in

_”; Times New Roman 14 – point font, Centered

5 Student’s Name and ID: Upper case, Bold, Times New Roman 14 – point font, Centered

6 Advisor’s name and Degree: Upper case, Bold, Times New Roman 14 – point font, Centered

7 Location: Lower case, Times New Roman 14 – point font, Centered

8 Year of thesis submission

Signature Page: (see attached sample)

1 Title of Thesis: Upper case, Bold, Times New Roman 20 – point font, Centered

2 Names of Committee members: the committee members’ name must be typed under the signature lines

3 Original Signatures in the final copy are required (if submitting electronically, the signature page is left unsigned)

Acknowledgments (see attached sample): This page is to thank those who have helped

in the process of obtaining the degree Permission to quote copyrighted material is listed here, as well as acknowledgments for grants and special funding This should occupy a single page and be 1.5 – spaced

Table of Contents: Follow the format of the abbreviated sample included in these

instructions For clarity, use 12 – point font All chapter titles, headings and subheadings should appear in the Table of Contents Font style of items listed within the Table of Contents should be the same as the font used within the text (e.g headings listed within the Table of Contents are in the same font style as in the body of the thesis)

List of Tables and List of Figures: The list of tables/figures must conform to the

examples provided and include all tables or figures (i.e illustrations, photographs, pie/bar charts, and maps) within the body of the thesis listed by table/figure number and title

Abstract: The thesis must contain an abstract An abstract is a concise account of the

thesis or dissertation and should state the problem, describe the procedure or method

used, and summarize the conclusions reached Paragraphs are formatted with the same layout used in the document This should occupy a single page and be 1.5 – spaced

III – BODY OF THE THESIS:

Page numbering: The body of the thesis and appendices are numbered in Arabic

numerals starting with 1 and continuing until the last page of the thesis

Headings of Major Divisions: The first line of the first chapter will be "CHAPTER I"

Three lines below this appears the title of the chapter in capital letters, centered Use an inverted pyramid and 1.5 line spacing succeeding lines of the title if it is longer than one line Three lines below the chapter title, place the first line of text Succeeding chapters,

"CHAPTER II", etc., should follow this same format Do not use terminal punctuation on any chapter headings Each chapter should begin on a new page

Headings of Subdivisions: The subdivision within a chapter or section does not begin on

a new page unless the preceding page is filled If there is not room for the complete heading and at least two lines of text at the bottom of a page, the new subdivision should begin on the next page All chapter titles and headings should follow the following

example

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

You would indent and start writing the text here

1 1 First level heading: Lower case, Bold, 12 point

You would indent and start writing the text here

1.1.1 Second level heading: Lower case, Bold, Italic, 12 point You would

start writing the text here after the period and keep wrapping around underneath the subheading like this

1.1.1.1 Third level heading: Lower case, Italic, 12 point You would start writing

the text here after the period and keep wrapping around underneath the subheading like this

IV – TABLES:

Tables should be numbered consecutively throughout the thesis (i.e Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc.) The table number should be followed by a brief, descriptive title

The table caption should appear directly above the table If not an original table, the

source of the table should be placed below the table Tables may be placed on the page in portrait or landscape orientation and may appear on a single page or in – line with the text depending on the size of the table Margin width and page number placement should be consistent with the rest of the text

Below is an example (extracted from Le and O’Brien, 2010):

Mean St Dev (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (1) Performance -0.028 0.58

Variable

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics

V – FIGURES:

A figure is any graphic illustration, map photograph or chart Figures must be numbered in consecutive numbering throughout the thesis (i.e Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure

3, etc.) The figure number should be followed by a brief, descriptive title or caption The

figure caption should appear directly below the figure If not an original figure, the

source of the figure should appear below the figure, after the figure caption Figures may

be placed on the page in portrait or landscape orientation and may appear on a single page or in – line with the text depending on the size of the figure Margin width and page number placement should be consistent with the rest of the text Below is an example:

-0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

Figure 1: Predicted Performance

(Source: Le and O’Brien, 2010)

VI – CITATIONS IN THE TEXT:

Source material must be documented in the body of the paper by citing the author(s) and date(s) of the sources The principle is that ideas and words of others must

be formally acknowledged Readers can access the source citation from the list of references

ƒ When the names of the authors of a source are part of the formal structure of the

sentence, only the year of publication appears in parentheses following the names of the

authors [Note: and is used when multiple authors are mentioned in the sentence] For

example:

Xu and Wang (1999) found that there was a positive and significant correlation between ownership concentration and profitability

ƒ When the authors of a source are not part of the formal structure of the sentence, both

the authors and year of publication appear in parentheses [Note: & is used when multiple

authors are identified in parenthetical material In addition, when several sources are cited

in parentheses, they are ordered alphabetically by first authors' surnames and separated

by semicolons.] For example:

Transitional nations around the world are transforming their economies towards based systems, including the privatization of public sector firms (Brada, 1996; Djankov

market-& Murrell, 2002; Frydman, Gray, Hessel market-& Rapaczynski, 1999; Megginson market-& Netter, 2001)

- When a source is of two authors, both authors are cited every time

- When a source having three, four, or five authors is cited, all authors are included the first time the source is cited When that source is cited again, the first author's surname and "et al." are used For example:

Transitional nations around the world are transforming their economies towards based systems, including the privatization of public sector firms (Frydman, Gray, Hessel,

market-& Rapaczynski, 1999)

Frydman et al (1999) argued that transitional nations around the world are transforming their economies towards market-based systems, including the privatization of public sector firms

- When a source that has six or more authors is cited, the first author's surname and

"et al." are used every time the source is cited (including the first time)

ƒ Citing personal communication (including letters, emails, and telephone interviews): Include initials, surname, and exact date for the communication Personal communication does not have to be included in the References For the text citation, use the following format:

Y N Bui confirmed that Munsterlander dogs have wonderful dispositions (personal communication, March 9, 2008) or,

Munsterlander dogs have wonderful dispositions (Y N Bui, personal communication, March 9, 2008)

ƒ Citing a Web sites and Web pages: Here are examples of citing web addresses in the text

There is information on APA style on their Web site (http://www.apastyle.org)

Citation of Web sites shall not be included in the References

ƒ Direct quotes: If a direct quote is cited, the words must be put in quotation marks The author’s last name, year of publication, and page number of the quote are put in parentheses at the end of the quote Consider the following example:

“When referring to a particular style such as APA, publishers are focusing on the editorial style in addition to the writing style.” (Bui, 2009, p 210)

With regard to the format of the references, using a hanging indent i.e the first line of the reference is flushed all the way to the left margin and the rest of the reference are indented one half inch First and middle name (if given) of the author(s) are listed in initials only Year of publication is in parentheses, followed by a period and title

of the work is written using sentence capitalization The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized or underlined The above rules for listing references of journal articles, book, book chapter and electronic sources are presented with examples as follows:

1 Articles in Periodicals

Basic Form

Author, A A., Author, B B., & Author, C C (Year) Title of article Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages

Article in Journal Paginated by Volume

Journals that are paginated by volume begin with page one in issue one, and continue numbering issue two where issue one ended, etc

Brada, J C (1996) Privatization is transition – or is it? Journal of Economics Perspective, 10, 67-86

Article in Journal Paginated by Issue

Journals paginated by issue begin with page one every issue; therefore, the issue number gets indicated in parentheses after the volume The parentheses and issue number are not italicized or underlined

Jensen, M C., & Meckling, W H (1976) Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4): 305-360

Letter to the Editor

Moller, G (2002, August) Ripples versus rumbles [Letter to the editor] Scientific American, 287(2), 12

Review

Baumeister, R F (1993) Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book The self-knower: A hero under control, by R A Wicklund & M Eckert] Contemporary Psychology, 38, 466-467

2 Books

Basic Format for Books

Author, A A (Year of publication) Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle

Location: Publisher

Note: For "Location," you should always list the city and the state using the two letter

postal abbreviation without periods (New York, NY)

Nolan, P (2001) China and the global business revolution New York, NY: Palgrave

Macmillan

Calfee, R C., & Valencia, R R (1991) APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

Edited Book, No Author

Duncan, G J., & Brooks-Gunn, J (Eds.) (1997) Consequences of growing up poor

New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation

Edited Book with an Author or Authors

Plath, S (2000) The unabridged journals K.V Kukil, (Ed.) New York, NY: Anchor

A Translation

Laplace, P S (1951) A philosophical essay on probabilities (F W Truscott & F L

Emory, Trans.) New York, NY: Dover (Original work published 1814)

Note: When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should

appear with both dates: Laplace (1814/1951)

Edition other than the First

Helfer, M E., Kempe, R S., & Krugman, R D (1997) The battered child (5th ed.)

Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book

Author, A A., & Author, B B (Year of publication) Title of chapter In A Editor & B

Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter) Location: Publisher

Grossman, S and Hart, O (1982) Corporate Financial Structure and Managerial

Incentives In J J McCall (ed.), The Economics of Information and Uncertainty

(123-155) Chicago: University of Chicago Press

3 Other Print Sources

An Entry in an Encyclopedia

Bergmann, P G (1993) Relativity In The new encyclopedia britannica (Vol 26, pp

501-508) Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica

National Institute of Mental Health (1990) Clinical training in serious mental illness

(DHHS Publication No ADM 90-1679) Washington, DC: U.S Government Printing Office

Report from a Private Organization

American Psychiatric Association (2000) Practice guidelines for the treatment of patients with eating disorders (2nd ed.) Washington, DC: Author

Conference Proceedings

Schnase, J L., & Cunnius, E L (Eds.) (1995) Proceedings from CSCL '95: The First International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning

Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

4 Electronic Sources (Web Publications)

Article from an Online Periodical

Online articles follow the same guidelines for printed articles Include all information the online host makes available, including an issue number in parentheses

Author, A A., & Author, B B (Date of publication) Title of article Title of Online Periodical, volume number (issue number if available) Retrieved from

http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Bernstein, M (2002) 10 tips on writing the living Web A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 149 Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving

Online Scholarly Journal Article: Citing DOIs

Because online materials can potentially change URLs, APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available, as opposed to the URL DOIs are an attempt to provide stable, long-lasting links for online articles They are unique to their documents and consist of a long alphanumeric code Many-but not all-publishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document

Article from an Online Periodical with DOI Assigned

Author, A A., & Author, B B (Date of publication) Title of article Title of Journal, volume number, page range doi:0000000/000000000000

Brownlie, D (2007) Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography

European Journal of Marketing, 41(11/12), 1245-1283

doi:10.1108/03090560710821161

Article from an Online Periodical with no DOI Assigned

Author, A A., & Author, B B (Date of publication) Title of article Title of Journal, volume number Retrieved from http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/

Kenneth, I A (2000) A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8 Retrieved from http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html

Abstract

If you only cite an abstract but the full text of the article is also available, cite the online abstract as other online citations, adding "[Abstract]" after the article or source name

Paterson, P (2008) How well do young offenders with Asperger Syndrome cope in

custody?: Two prison case studies [Abstract] British Journal of Learning

Bossong, G Ergativity in Basque Linguistics, 22(3), 341-392

Electronic books may include books found on personal websites, databases, or even in

audio form Use the following format if the book you are using is only provided in a

digital format or is difficult to find in print If the work is not directly available online or must be purchased, use "Available from," rather than "Retrieved from," and point readers

to where they can find it For books available in print form and electronic form, include the publish date in parentheses after the author's name

De Huff, E W (n.d.) Taytay’s tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian tales Retrieved from

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/taytay.html

Davis, J (n.d.) Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest Available from

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-9780931686108-0

Chapter/Section of a Web document or Online Book Chapter

Author, A A., & Author, B B (Date of publication) Title of article In Title of book or larger document (chapter or section number) Retrieved from

http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Engelshcall, R S (1997) Module mod rewrite: URL Rewriting Engine In Apache HTTP Server Version 1.3 Documentation (Apache modules) Retrieved from

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html

Peckinpaugh, J (2003) Change in the Nineties In J S Bough and G B DuBois (Eds.),

A century of growth in America Retrieved from GoldStar database

Dissertation/Thesis from a Database